The present invention relates generally to electrical connectors, and more particularly, to a composite layered interconnect system. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a high density electrical interconnect system having multiple shielded electrical paths.
Backplane systems are comprised of a complex printed circuit board which is referred to as a backplane or motherboard, and several smaller printed circuit boards which are referred to as daughtercards which plug into the backplane. Each of the daughtercards includes one or more chips which are referred to as the driver/receiver, The driver/receiver sends and receives signals from the drivers/receivers on other daughtercards. A signal path is formed between the driver/receiver on a first daughtercard and the driver/receiver on the second daughtercard. The signal path includes an electrical connector that connects the first daughtercard to the backplane, a second electrical connector that connects the second daughtercard to the backplane and the second daughtercard having the driver/receiver that receives the carriage signals. Various drivers/receivers being used today can transmit signals to data rates between 5-10 Gb/second and greater. The limiting factor (data transfer rate) in the signal path are the electrical connectors which connect each daughtercard to the backplane. A need exists in the art for a high speed electrical connector capable of handling the required high speed transfer data.
Further, the receivers are capable of discriminating signals having only 5% of the original signal strength sent by the driver. Reduction in signal strength increases the importance of minimizing cross-talk between signal paths to avoid signal degradation or errors being introduced into digital data streams. With high speed, high density electrical connectors, it is even more important to minimize cross-talk. Most high density electrical connectors use stamped copper components for carrying electrical signals. These copper components are usually unshielded and thus there is cross-talk between signal carrying paths.
Thus, need exists in the art for a high speed electrical connector capable of handling high speed signals that reduces cross-talk between signal paths.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector in which separate signal paths are shielded from each other.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a low cost, high density electrical interconnect system which is simple to manufacture.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical interconnect system having a dense array of signal carrying contacts and a shielded signal carrying path.
These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by an electrical connector including a plurality of layers wherein each layer has a first side and a second side. Each layer has longitudinal grooves in the first side and the second side. The longitudinal grooves are electrically conductive and each of the plurality of layers is adjacent to at least one other layer. A first layer has a first side not adjacent to another layer. A last layer has a second side not adjacent to another layer. A first side of each other layer is adjacent to a second side of another layer. A plurality of contacts is each engaged with a respective groove.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are achieved by an electrical connector including a first layer and a last layer and a plurality of intermediate layers. Each layer has a first surface and a second surface and each layer has a plurality of conductive traces on at least one of said first surface and the second surface. A plurality of contacts is each engaged with a respective groove.
The present invention is directed to an electrical connector having a laminate structure. The laminate structure has multiple parallel grooves. The laminate structure is electrically conductive and is coated with an electrically non-conductive material. Each groove has a signal carrying path which is advantageously surrounded by the laminate structure, thereby forming a type of Faraday cage around the signal carrying path and creating a completely shielded electrical path.